Disclaimer: Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and all related indicia belong to Saban. For once, I finally wrote a fic without any creation of my own in it. This is a fluffy Christmas fic. You want something meatier, this isn't the place to get it. But hopefully, this will give you some nice, simple, Christmas cheer. From me to you and yours, have a merry, blessed Christmas.
By Jeremy Ray Logsdon
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," Damon sang cheerfully and off-key as he attached three stockings to the wall, "everywhere you go…"
With a soft whoosh of air, the front doors slid open, allowing Karone and Maya entrance. "The festival of dead trees continues in here," Maya commented.
"Actually, I think this is the festival of plastic trees," Karone clarified, walking over to Damon's tall, beautiful Christmas tree. "Sure is pretty, though. It'll take you a little while to get used to this holiday, Maya, but it's really quite nice. Christmas decorations are so beautiful."
"You know about Christmas, Karone?" Damon asked, stepping back to supervise his work.
"I did spend almost five years on Earth," she reminded him.
"This is a holiday, right?" Maya asked.
"Right," Damon said.
"Celebration of Santa's birth, yes?" she continued.
"Ri- no. Celebrating Jesus' birth," Damon corrected.
"Jesus is this little guy over here in the stable," Karone told her, pointing to the small figure in the Nativity, set in a faux snow scene on a shelf in the living area.
"This is a holiday for Jesus?" Maya asked.
"You bet," Damon said.
"So, if this is a holiday for Jesus, why is there just that one little barn over there with him in it, but the rest of your decorations are… not Jesus."
"Well, on Earth, Christmas is geared largely towards kids. And kids like pretty things, so… we devote a lot of our energy to the things that are really pretty and flashy, like the tree. Besides, I've got some religious ornaments on the tree. And there IS an angel on top. But just because I like pretty secular ornaments doesn't mean I'm ignoring the religious aspect," Damon explained. "Parts of it, though, are borrowed from other sources. The Sacred aspects are exclusive to Christianity, but a fair number of the Secular aspects come from other cultures and even religions. The tree is Druidic, for instance. And the fact that we celebrate Christmas on December 25th has to do with the fact that centuries ago, when the Church was trying to convert Pagans, they felt it would be an easier adjustment for them if they placed it near one of their holidays, Yule. The Church just officially admitted that a few decades ago, actually. Not all of the secular stuff is stolen, though. We give gifts as symbolic of the gifts the three Magi gave to the baby Jesus."
"You know a lot about Christmas, Damon," Karone said.
"It's my favorite time of year," Damon told her. "So… I've studied and read a lot about it. It intrigues me."
"Gifts?" Maya asked. "Our big holiday on Mirinoi is Jurey Day. We give gifts then, too. It's a celebration that occurs every ninth Blue Moon."
"Is Jurey Day a religious holiday?" Damon asked.
"We believe that Jurey Day is the day that someday, the world will be destroyed and those that are living will be reunited with our dead relatives. Jurey, a great prophet, was to lead us into the afterlife… We give gifts to show our appreciation of life and express gratitude that we've lived so long," Maya said. She paused and then added, a bit sadly, "We never really counted on Furio, though."
"Mirinoi will be turned back someday, Maya, I'm sure of it," Damon said.
"I hope so," Maya said softly.
As 'night' fell on Terra Venture, the vast majority of its citizens were getting ready for bed. The Rangers, specifically Maya and Karone, were no exception. "Christmas really is fun, Maya," Karone told her as she put the finishing touches on their own, small tree.
"When is Christmas? Next week?" Maya asked.
"Two weeks come Thursday," Karone said.
"It's a very pretty holiday," Maya agreed. The two girls had just come back from the Small Town Dome, where practically the entire area was decked out in Christmas cheer.
"Want to go shopping tomorrow to get gifts for the guys?" Karone asked, placing a small angel on the peak of the tree.
"Good morning, Karone," Maya greeted as the still sleepy Pink Ranger trudged to the counter in the kitchen area.
"Good morning," Karone returned. She then paused and said, "Did you take down the tree?"
"Huh?" Maya asked. She then paused over her glass of orange juice and said, "Oh yeah, the Christmas tree… Where is it?"
"That's what I'm wondering," Karone said. She then shrugged and suggested, "Maybe the guys are just pranking us or something."
"That can't go unpunished," Maya said, placing her glass on the counter and leaving the room. Karone was close behind as they walked down the hall, knocking once and then entering the guys' room.
"All right, guys, what'd you do with our… tree?" Karone asked as she stepped into the room. She paused in mid-sentence, finding their apartment completely and utterly un-decorated. All of Damon's elaborate decorations were gone, leaving just an ordinary apartment behind.
"What tree?" Kai asked from the kitchen.
"Why did Damon take down his Christmas tree?" Karone asked. "I'm confused."
"Christmas tree?" Damon asked as he emerged from the living area. "What's a Christmas tree?"
"Damon, it-," Karone stammered, unable to finish.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Maya said. Grabbing Karone's hand, she was already out the door before she said, "Let's go check something."
Confirming Karone and Maya's fears, the entirety of the Small Town Dome was without Christmas decoration. "If it was just the decorations, I wouldn't be so worried," Karone sighed as they walked through the park, "but…"
"No one even remembers Christmas," Maya said, nodding. "It's so weird. I wonder why we can remember, when no one else can."
"Well, let's think about this logically," Karone suggested as she guided them both to a park bench beneath a shade tree. "Christmas, an Earth holiday, has disappeared. It's like it never existed. Absolutely no traces of it. No one on Terra Venture remembers anything about Christmas, save for us."
"And I just learned about it yesterday," Maya commented. The same lightbulb turned on for both of them at the same time.
"And neither of us are from Earth," Karone said. "It is a spell."
"I was afraid of that," Maya groaned. "Can you do spells anymore?"
"I never could do spells," Karone said. "I could weave a little magic, but it was all very physical. Do you know any person who can do spells?"
"I only know one spellcaster, and that's Trakeena," Maya said, frowning.
"She's probably the one who did this," Karone said. "Hey wait! Alpha!"
"What about him?"
"Alpha isn't from Earth!" Karone shouted.
"Maybe he'll remember Christmas!" Maya shouted as well, quickly catching on. She jumped to the top of the bench to get a better vantage point and then said, "It's clear." Hitting their Transmorphers, the two Rangers teleported off in tandem streaks of yellow and pink.
"Alpha!" Maya cried as she ran onto the bridge of the AstroMegaShip. "Do you remember Christmas?"
"Maya?" Alpha asked. "What do you mean?"
"Christmas," Karone said. "Do you remember it?"
"Of course I remember Christmas," he answered in a surprised tone. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because no one else on Terra Venture seems to," Maya said. "The Christmas decorations are gone. Everything is changed."
"Do you have any ideas on how to help?" Karone asked pleadingly.
"Perhaps if you placed the Christmas decorations back up," Alpha suggested. "Or played Christmas music over the intercom system."
"I doubt there are any Christmas CDs left," Maya said.
"Not a problem," Alpha assured her. "I can make one from my databanks."
The girls knew they would need either Kai or Mike's help to play the music for the entire colony, so they decided that their best bet would be to get the guys to remember first. The only one home in the middle of the day, though, was Leo.
"Who is that?" Leo asked after Karone turned the CD player on.
"It's Christmas music," she answered.
Leo cocked his eyebrows but listened patiently for a few moments. After a bit, he nodded and returned to channel-surfing.
"So, what do you think?" Maya asked hopefully.
"It's nice," he said. "A little weird. What's Christmas, and why should I want a white one?"
"Hey Leo?" Karone asked, pulling a small sprig of greenery from her pocket. "You know what this is?"
"I dunno," Leo said.
She walked over to his chair, spun it around with her foot, and while holding it over her head, leaned in close to him. Smiling coyly, she asked, "Now do you know what it is?"
"Is it a drug?" he asked. "You're acting weird."
Still holding it above her, she grabbed a handful of his shirt, yanked him closer, and pressed her lips firmly against his. He was stone-still for a moment, but then, he began to move with the kiss, parting his lips and tilting his head so their noses weren't mashed together. After a few breathless moments, Karone pulled away and asked, "Well?"
Leo, with his eyes still closed, tried to lean closer to continue the kiss, but she sighed heavily and pushed him back into his chair. "It's mistletoe!" she shouted. "You kiss underneath it!"
"Mistletoe?" he asked with a dumb grin.
"Let's go, Maya," Karone griped, walking away from Leo.
"I can't believe you kissed Leo," Maya said with a bemused grin as the two girls left the room.
"I was hoping it'd trigger a memory."
"People kiss under mistletoe on Earth?"
"Yeah, at Christmas," Karone said. "A dear friend of mine, Zhane, had this hat with mistletoe on it. He walked around kissing everybody as soon as he found out about that tradition."
"Can I borrow that?" Maya asked. "You know, in case Mike shows up?"
"Use it in good health," Karone laughed, passing the sprig of green on to the Yellow Ranger.
"Mistletoe didn't work, Christmas carols didn't work, egg nog didn't work," Maya told Alpha. She spun around in her chair on the bridge as she folded her arms across her chest. "I'm out of ideas."
"Here's some good news," Karone announced as she entered the bridge with a directory to Terra Venture and a calendar in her hands. "Christianity is still around. All of the churches that were there before are still there. And Easter is still on the calendar. It's just Christmas that is missing."
"It's obviously a spell," Maya said. "We need a spell-caster."
"We could go straight to the source," Karone mused.
"Aye-yi-yi! Karone, you can't!" Alpha protested.
"Go to Trakeena?" Maya asked. "She wouldn't help us."
"She would if we made her," Karone said defiantly.
"Trakeena's ship isn't too far off. If we took the Jet Jammers, it wouldn't take us but a few minutes to get there," Maya pondered.
"Let's go," Karone said, hurrying to the Jet Jammer Bay.
"Go Galactic!" they both shouted as they ran through the corridors of the ship. Bright pink and yellow light flashed around them as they morphed just in time to leap into their Jet Jammers.
"Alpha, open the doors!" Maya shouted into her wrist.
"You shouldn't be doing this!" Despite his protests, he still opened the doors, giving the two Rangers exit.
"We'll be back in a few, Alpha," Karone assured him just before they roared out of the ship.
"You think Trakeena has cameras around here?" Maya whispered as the two Rangers crept silently through the dark hallways of Trakeena's Scorpion Stinger.
"I sure hope not," Karone said. "We need the element of surprise if we stand any chance of… I don't know. Doing whatever it is we're going to do."
"And you've just lost that," Villamax said from behind them.
Before Villamax even knew what had hit him, he was pinned against the wall with two Quasar Sabers inches away from his throat. "Maybe not," Karone announced.
"What happened to Christmas?" Maya asked.
"What do you care?" Villamax chuckled. "Neither of you are even from Earth."
"A lot of our friends are," Karone said. She pressed the blade of her Saber against his thick skin and threatened, "What did you do?"
"It was a gift for Trakeena," he answered, making eye contact with the helmeted Pink Ranger. "It was called the Globe of Netzer. Don't even bother trying to find any info on it. There isn't any. Scorpius had it made specially for her."
"What does it do?" Maya asked.
"It gives the owner one wish," Villamax explained. "And Trakeena wished for the people of Terra Venture to lose the thing they loved most."
"But not everyone celebrates Christmas," Karone said. "Why'd it disappear for everyone but us?"
"Don't be daft," Villamax hissed. "It isn't a black and white deal. The Globe is sentient; the removal of Christmas from Earthlings affected the majority of the people on Terra Venture."
"What's in it for Trakeena?" Maya asked. "If I had one wish, I think I could have spent it on something better than that."
"It's because I hate to see people happy," Trakeena said suddenly from behind them.
"Trakeena!" Maya screamed. She spun away from Villamax and brought her Saber up toward Trakeena. The insect princess blocked the hit, knocked the weapon away from the Yellow Ranger, and pointed her staff at her. An amorphous glob of green slime burst from the tip, slamming into Maya and cementing her against the wall.
Before Karone could help Maya, Villamax attacked her. He pulled a sword of his own from thin air, and the two began battling madly. Pink sparks burst from each contact point, and while Karone never feared losing, she never had the upper-hand either. Try as she might, she also couldn't maneuver toward the stuck Yellow Ranger.
"Karone, get out of here!" Maya cried, struggling with her slimy bonds. "Find the Globe!"
"I'll be back!" Karone promised. She caught Villamax's sword with her Saber, flipped it out of his grip, and delivered a powerful kick to his midsection. By the time he had recovered, she was gone.
"Let her run," Trakeena dismissed. "We've got one more Ranger than we had before."
"What are we going to do with her?" Villamax asked, putting his sword away.
"I'm going to take her to the hives," Trakeena said with an evil grin. "A few days in the combs and she'll become the most powerful Sting-Winger ever."
"You know, even if you do turn me into a Sting-Winger, the Rangers will still defeat you," Maya said as she was pushed down a dark tunnel into the bowels of the Scorpion Stinger. Her helmet was removed, but her hands were bound together with the green slime. Try as she might, she couldn't work free of the sludge.
"You're boring me," Trakeena said, pushing her along. Suddenly, the tunnel ended and they emerged in a gargantuan chamber, lit with a soft, amber glow. For as far as Maya could see in every direction, there were hexagonal cells. The membrane covering each opening was transparent, and resting in amber gel were Sting-Wingers in various stages of growth. "Any final words, Ranger?"
Maya turned to Trakeena, a word resting on her lips. Before she said it, though, she saw a black orb resting on a thin string around Trakeena's neck. (The Globe? Think, think, think!)
Shouting, Maya shot both hands at Trakeena's neck. Under the pretense of strangling her, she wrapped her fingers around the globe. She let herself wide open, and Trakeena kicked her in the stomach, throwing her backwards into a cell. With a flicker of light, a membrane covered the opening, and amber gel rushed out and covered her legs.
"This is disgusting," Maya complained. However, she did at least find that the amber slime allowed for movement. In addition, it dissolved the imprisoning gel on her wrists, or else it stopped working, as with a little effort, she was able to tear her hands apart. She looked out through the membrane, which gave her a view similar to looking through glass smeared with Vaseline. Maya was able to see Trakeena leaving, however, which was all the information she needed at the moment.
She lifted the orb, still on the string, up before her. She didn't really know if it was the Globe of Netzer or not. Placing it around her own neck to make sure she didn't accidentally lose it in the gel, she leaned back against the wall. It was warm in the cell. Comfortable, even. That startled her. She didn't know how long it would take for the gel to being to transform her, and she wasn't particularly interested in finding out.
"Alpha?" Maya asked, pressing her wrist. "Alpha, can you hear me? Karone? Answer me, please… Karone? Can you hear me?"
Karone ran through the hallways, just shy of a state of panic. When she sensed a movement closer to her than before, she turned around and fired a shot with her BetaBow. The closest Sting-Winger would fall, knocking over the ones immediately behind it, and Karone would have a bit more breathing room until they caught up again.
She wasn't really sure what to do. She could either get to her Jet Jammer and go get help, or she could stay and find Maya. Karone kept on running, and suddenly, she tripped into something. The thing she tripped into it cried out, and Karone sailed over its head, landing hard on her shoulder.
Jumping to her feet, she saw Kegler lying on the ground before her. Before the Sting-Wingers caught up, she grabbed Kegler by the arm and yanked him off of the ground. "Stay back!" Karone shouted to the Sting-Wingers. "I'll shoot him, I swear!"
Kegler whined and waved his arms at the Sting-Wingers, shooing them away. Buzzing, the insects obeyed, leaving Karone and Kegler alone.
"All right, little dude, you're going to tell me where Maya is or else," Karone threatened.
"Please don't hurt me. I'll tell you anything you want," Kegler pleaded.
"And don't whine," she said, putting him back down on the ground. "It's so belittling."
"Yes, Pink Ranger," he sighed unhappily. "Follow me." She followed Kegler into a side hallway, always looking around her for an encroaching henchman.
"She'll be in here, somewhere," Kegler groveled.
Karone looked around the combs. "Get out of here, Kegler," she said. "And don't tell Karone."
"No, of course not," he said, backing out of the room. As he ran off, he shouted over his shoulder, "Thank you for not killing me!"
She looked at the cells, straining to see the contents. She saw Sting-Winger larvae after larvae before she heard, very muted and only barely discernible, "Karone! Karone!"
"Maya?" she asked. Using her superior Ranger-hearing, she followed the voice to a cell on the ground. "Maya!" She hurried over to it and knelt before the membrane covering it. "Are you okay in there?"
"Get me out of here!" Maya cried.
"Back up a bit," Karone said, standing up and pulling her Saber. With a grunt, she slashed at the covering. She expected it to be difficult to get through, but it cut through easily. Sticking her hand inside, she helped pull Maya out. "Are you okay?"
"I wasn't in there very long," Maya said. "I'm-"
"Stop right there!" Trakeena's booming voice shouted. It echoed across the room, startling the two Rangers. Trakeena strolled into the room, smiling. "Give it back, Maya. You don't know anything about it."
With a flicker of yellow light, Maya's helmet returned. She reached up to her neck and yanked the pendant off. "I think this is the Globe," Maya said.
"You found it?" Karone asked.
"Just give it back, I'll let you go, and…," Trakeena trailed off.
"How about I just keep it myself?" Maya asked.
"No, no, no," Trakeena sighed. Thrusting her staff at the sky, green light burst from the tip. All of the exits to the hive closed off, just as each of the thousands and thousands of cells began to glow. The Sting-Wingers within became fully mature, and all of the membranes began to stretch and contort as they tried to get out.
"Let me make this a little clearer for you," Trakeena said. "You can't get out of this hive. If you don't give me the Globe back, NOW, then I'll release all of these Sting-Wingers. You might kill a few, but do you really believe you can survive against an army of thousands?"
"So that is the Globe," Karone commented, looking at the pendant in Maya's hand.
"It isn't even your holiday!" Trakeena cried. "What do you care?!"
Maya looked at Karone, who nodded. "Because it means a lot to our friends," Maya said. Opening her hand, she threw the Globe of Netzer at the floor, and stomped it with her foot, crushing it under her heel.
"ATTACK!" Trakeena cried. A horrendous buzzing filled the air as all of the Sting-Wingers escaped their prisons.
But then, silver light swirled up around the shattered remains of the Globe of Netzer. Karone and Maya looked at each other as they were overwhelmed with the bright light.
"So, what do you think?" Mike asked.
"What?" Maya asked, looking around. She looked down at her body, finding herself no longer morphed. And on Terra Venture, for that matter.
"Mistletoe," he grinned, pointing to the spot on the doorframe above their heads. As Maya realized his point, he smiled again and said, "I'm just kidding, Maya. I wouldn't-"
Before he could finish, Maya grabbed him by the shirt color and pulled him down to her level. Mike grunted as Maya kissed her much more forcefully than he expected, and he actually reeled backwards when she released him. "I like that Christmas tradition," Maya said, leaving a dumbfounded but smiling Mike under the mistletoe.
"What are we doing here?" Karone asked in surprise.
"We invited you over to look at our Christmas decorations," Damon said, gesturing to the lavishly decorated apartment. Kai, in the kitchen with a smudged face, pointed out the rows and rows of Christmas candy he was currently making.
"Excuse us just a moment," Karone said as she and Maya hurried out into the hallway.
"What just happened?" Maya asked.
"When you destroyed the Globe, it must have set things right," Karone told her. "Maya, we did it!"
As the two Rangers turned back to go back into the guys' apartment, they found Leo waiting beneath the mistletoe with his arms outstretched. "I'm gonna assume that there is more to Christmas than this," Maya grinned.
Karone stepped up to Leo, smiling, and said, "Merry Christmas." She wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders and gave him a quick, gentle kiss.
"I already kissed one Corbett," Maya told him as she passed him.
"I love this time of year," Leo said with a boyish grin.
"Where are you two taking us?" Damon asked. Karone and Maya were leading the four guys out into the connecting bridge between the Main Dome and the Mountain Dome. It, like the rest of Terra Venture, was decorated for the upcoming holiday. Christmas lights lined the darkened glass tunnel, producing a beautiful effect against the darkness of space. From the tunnel, all of the domes they could see were also lit up for Christmas. It was strikingly beautiful.
"An early Christmas gift," Maya said.
"You'll only get to enjoy it for tonight, so you had better enjoy it now," Karone said. "But Maya and I… Well, we sort of cheated and teleported back to Earth. We know we shouldn't have, and please don't lecture us anymore than Alpha already has, but…"
"See those seven stars there?" Maya asked, pointing.
"The ones in the shape of a cross?" Kai asked.
"Yeah, those," Karone said. "From Earth, they don't look like anything, but from here… It's a constellation. They're all local stars, for us, so after tomorrow, we probably won't be able to see them."
"We bought them for you," Maya said with a bright smile. "For all six of us, and Kendrix. From NASADA." She chuckled and said, "Earth is the only planet where you can buy a star, but… hey, Merry Christmas."
"I think they're beautiful," the pink, spectral image of Kendrix said from behind them. All six spun around, but they only turned in time to see her slowly fade away, smiling.
"They are beautiful," Mike agreed. "But… why did you do it?"
Karone and Maya looked at each other knowingly and smiled. "We have our reasons," Karone answered.
The six superheroes stood in the tunnel for long into the night, watching their constellation move slowly out of view, enjoying the beautiful lights of the Christmas decorations in all of the domes, and sharing memories of holidays past.